Although a variety of ball bearings and ball bearing assemblies have been devised in the past for meeting limitless situations where friction must be minimized, a constant effort is being made to improve the effectiveness of such bearing assemblies while simultaneously lowering their cost. This is of particular importance where the bearings are manufactured in large quantities for a variety of purposes, such as in caster wheels, conveyor wheels, small truck wheels and in wheels for other vehicles or generally similar nature. Where the production of such bearing assemblies is on the order of several hundred or more per hour, it is apparent that even a small reduction in the unit cost of a bearing assembly will result in greater savings, both to the manufacturer of the bearing assemblies and to the users thereof. On the other hand, in view of the critical part played by such bearing assemblies in practically all of their usual locations of use, it is equally apparent that such cost reductions, if any, must be made without sacrificing quality.
Bearings and the wheels associated therewith of this general nature have long been known and many such bearings of the type shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,807,817, assigned to the same assignee as the present application, have long been known. However, in a continuing effort to improve the quality of the product while at the same time reducing its cost, a great deal of effort has been made to detect points in the previous devices at which such improvements and/or cost reductions can be made. Thus, in such wheels and their bearing assemblies as shown in said patent, as well as in other generally similar patents such U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,881,789 and 1,674,087, there are shown axles for the support of the bearings which in turn support the wheels, which axles are hollow and held in place by a fastener, such as a pin or bolt, passed therethrough. This is effective in operation but it involves the step of boring the hole for such fastener and the further step of inserting such fastener therein, all of which steps involve expense. Furher, in the assembly of U.S. Pat. No. 3,807,817, reliance is placed for sealing of the bearing on relatively small bearing seals associated therewith which are separate items involving expense in both the provision thereof and in the assembly thereof and at the same time are relatively small and depend upon their own resiliency for holding themselves in position. It is accordingly desirable to eliminate these seals entirely and thus eliminate the above-mentioned expense resultant therefrom and at the same time to provide for a more efficient and effective dust seal to protect the bearing balls and races.
Accordingly, the objects of the invention include:
1. To provide a bearing and wheel construction adaptable for use under high production conditions which will produce a very inexpensive wheel and yet one which will be solid, firm and capable of long and accurate operation.
2. To provide a bearing and wheel construction, as aforesaid, which will eliminate some of the manufacturing steps now required in certain present constructions of this type but will do so without sacrifice in quality of the resultant product.
3. To provide a bearing and wheel construction, as aforesaid, wherein the separate sealing means now required can be eliminated without sacrifice in the quality of the resultant product.
4. To provide a bearing and wheel construction, as aforesaid, which will have other advantages and economies recognized by persons skilled in the art but which will at the same time provide a bearing capable of withstanding substantial abuse and requiring only minimal maintenance, such as is recognized as required for a variety of commercial applications, such as use in shopping carts.
Other purposes and advantages of the invention will be apparent to persons acquainted with apparatus of this general type upon reading the following specifications and inspection of the accompanying drawings.